Notable Deaths

[nimhiúil]

I spent this evening with a friend of Hansard, going back decades. He was effusive about the man and some of the stories he told me put him (gesture) up there, to the point of him being a serious sound out guy.

Inevitably I had to ask him about the rumours and insinuations and he said he'd never seen any sign of that kind of carry on in the 25 years he'd known him. I pushed it as far as I could and he was resolute.

Make of that what you will. This man is a father of a daughter who would have been of that age and presence at the time.

Plenty of convicted rapists get character references from half the parish.

My understanding is he was a lech who liked them on the younger side but at the same time not a full blown rapist, just yknow bit creepy.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

I don't think he'll be shaking his reputation among those aware of it. His two publicly known relationships involve, respectively, a 17 year and a 22 year age gap. His own description of his proposal to his now widow is him slipping his mother's ring on her finger at his mother's graveside and whispering "Now we're married" (direct quote). At the time, he would have been ~50 and she ~28. Nothing illegal about that either, but I defy anyone to conjure up the image of that scene and not have it be weird and creepy. That alongside him saying of when he met her, his reaction was "Oh, there's the mother of my children" (direct quote).

All of this publicly known stuff paints a picture that fits very easily with the other allegations, which date back to the 90s when he was in his 20s: a dude who was fucking weird regarding girls and women much, much younger than him who he was (sexually) attracted to.

[Floss]

Poor ould Vinny Pastore, he was 80 - just a kid.
Legendary character was Big Pussy.

Anyway, 4 dollars a pound.

[Carnage]

As I said before I'm not denying what's been said or making excuses for his behaviour, I was just presenting the perspective of one person who knew him. I'm sure that down the line there'll be a proper exploration of the subject once the dust settles.

[Barnacle Billy]

In her Substack post dated August 3, 2026, Rosemary Mac Cabe critiques the public mourning of Irish musician Glen Hansard following his death. While acknowledging his musical contributions and activism, she argues against viewing him as a straightforward "Irish hero." Mac Cabe highlights troubling aspects of Hansard's past, particularly concerning his interactions with young women in Dublin's music scene during the 2000s and 2010s. She recounts warnings that young women should be cautious around him and shares a personal anecdote about a friend who had a sexual encounter with Hansard at age 15.

Mac Cabe references Hansard's comments about his relationship with Markéta Irglová, whom he met when she was 13 and he was around 31. She interprets these interactions as indicative of grooming behavior, suggesting he built a relationship with her while she was still a minor. The post includes content warnings for sensitive topics such as grooming and child sexual abuse.

The article also verifies key claims about Hansard's death in a motorcycle accident on July 29, 2026, and confirms his musical career achievements, including his work with The Frames and The Swell Season, and his Oscar win for "Falling Slowly." While the timeline of his relationship with Irglová is accurate, the interpretation of their age difference and the nature of their earlier interactions is contested. There are no formal allegations or convictions related to grooming or abuse against Hansard, and both he and Irglová have described their romantic relationship as beginning when she was an adult. Mac Cabe's assertions regarding personal experiences remain anecdotal and unverified.



https://rosemarymaccabe.substack.com/p/glen-hansard-is-no-irish-hero?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=bixu5&triedRedirect=true

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Is that a chat app summary of the article..? Cos you know, whatever LLM you're using, it can't access the paywalled bit of the article any more than you can, so all it's doing there is blahblahblah-ing in about as many words as the accessible part is in itself... so not really a summary at all.

genAI is shite and will (further) rot your ability to read and process information

[Emphyrio]

Any comments alluding to the above have been zapped from The Journal. Is Hansard sort of getting a pass so far or will the truth out eventually?

[The Butcher]

RIP Rod Liddle, died on Eamon Dunphys birthday... survived by his wife and a young one!

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

survived by his wife and a young one!

  

[John Kimble]

Any comments alluding to the above have been zapped from The Journal. Is Hansard sort of getting a pass so far or will the truth out eventually?

100% he's getting a pass, lad is being feted as a national treasure in mainstream coverage so far but that's hardly surprising.
For those on the cesspit that is Facebook, and id imagine other social media, there's a fair bit of adverse commentary but it's following a typical pattern. Allegations getting shut down in the spirit of not speaking ill of the dead. You could say that there's a lot of unsubstantiated rumour out there but the whole Irglova stuff, which was from the horse's mouth, makes for uncomfortable reading. It's a bit easier when the person came across as an absolute dick, but Hansard (seems)to have done a lot for good causes when he was alive and perhaps its just a case that the truth will eventually out. Hard to call. No smoke without fire perhaps? He's not the first person in the industry with a wandering eye and won't be the last.
As an aside, I absolutely despise the whole singer songwriter scene in Ireland and his stuff with the Frames, while not my my bag, is infinitely preferable to the tiresome solo stuff. See also Mic Cristopher, Damien Rice, Mundy, Lisa Hannigan et al. Just an inflated version of the bore we all met at house parties back in the day, picking up an acoustic guitar and demanding everyone's attention.

[Thorn]

Absolutely agree with that last paragraph there Kimble, definitely seems to be some sort of attraction in this country for this type of whiny, narcissistic ,one man acoustic guitar shite. Horrible stuff altogether. We've all suffered 'em at gatherings at one stage or other.

[Emphyrio]

Ugh, fuckin Mundy.

[jpm4]

Some of my friends were big into the Frames back in the day, I would say Dance the Devil has some great songs on it.

[Pentagrimes]

Agreed with Kimble - funnily enough seeing mention of Damien Rice, I definitely also remember talk of him being sketch towards Hannign also. Crowd of them in it, the creepy little Hot Press aproved singer songwriter men with their overly earnest songs who are actually cunts. His music was enough reason to hate him. I'm tired of talking/reading about this insufferable ginger cunt, but just read Neko Case's article about him which certainly doesn't hold back, refreshing to see someone actually come forwaard about him in some way. Varg Vikernes has what, 8 kids and made some decent music, I won't be fucking crying for him either when he finally qualifies for the fucking Darwin Awards. IF you like his music, fine, doesn't excuse anything.

[Sworntothecans]

Absolutely agree with that last paragraph there Kimble, definitely seems to be some sort of attraction in this country for this type of whiny, narcissistic ,one man acoustic guitar shite. Horrible stuff altogether. We've all suffered 'em at gatherings at one stage or other.

That whole Whelans/Todayfm singer songwriter shite should have been nuked from the get go.

And always liked by the worst cunts you know.